This morning, my mother texted me and said, “I can’t believe what happened at PSU. It was like a death in the family.” And I know just what she meant. Before I tell you the story (which you doubtless already know), you have to know something about State College and Penn State. Although we are a “city” of over 100,000, approximately 50,000 of those residents are students or graduate students. Of the remaining 50,000 people, a pretty good percentage either work for the university, are business owners who rely on students, or are people who have graduated from Penn State. And despite the size, State College feels very much like a small town. You may not know the name of every student on the street, but you know the names of the teachers, coaches, pastors, and community leaders. You know where they live, where they go to church, and probably even the names of their dogs.
That is why our community was rocked a few days ago when the indictment against Jerry Sandusky was released.
This is Jerry Sandusky.
Who is this guy? Well, in our minds, up until a few days ago, Jerry Sandusky was a beloved community leader. He founded a charity for underprivileged kids, The Second Mile. He attended church. He and his wife adopted children. He was a former PSU football coach. He was one of the good guys. And when we found out that he was accused of molesting eight boys–by an eyewitness even–we were thrown for a loop.
Suddenly, Happy Valley (which is the nickname for State College/Penn State) didn’t seem so happy. We started looking at the friends we trusted. Are they child molesting monsters in hiding? What horror must this guy’s wife and family be going through? Were there other victims? How could this have happened?
Details of the case came out. Mike McQueary, a grad student at the time and now a member of PSU’s football coaching staff, saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the shower at PSU. McQueary unfortunately did not punch the living daylights out of Sandusky, but he did tell his own father what he saw, and they went to Joe Paterno, Penn State’s head football coach. Paterno reported the incident to the head of athletics and to the head of police services. Sandusky was no longer a coach at the university, so Paterno couldn’t fire him. However, Sandusky was banned from coming on to the PSU campus.
It turns out, though, that the people who should have done something did not.
“Paterno notified the athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary Schultz, who in turn notified Spanier. Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to report the incident to authorities, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly earlier this week refused to rule out charges against Spanier. Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation, but the state police commissioner called his failure to contact police himself a lapse in ‘moral responsibility.’” (http://www.marionstar.com/article/20111110/NEWS01/111110001/PSU-trustees-fire-Paterno-Spanier-students-riot)
Schultz and Curley already have been accused of lying. So, who knows what they told then-PSU-president Graham Spanier? Or what they told Paterno?
The next day, Joe Paterno announced he was retiring. We all felt sad that this scandal had to be the last moment of his career. But we understood. He is an 84 year old man. Retirement could have happened 20 years ago.
Then last night, at 10:15 pm, the Penn State Board of Trustees announced that they were firing Joe Paterno. FIRING JOE PATERNO??
That is when the students took to the streets.
State College doesn’t protest like most places do. The majority of the students just milled around with cell phones and ipod cameras taking pictures and shouting “JoePa!” Yes, there were rocks and bottles thrown, the poor WTAJ news van was flipped over (an action most people at PSU probably secretly agreed with due to the omnipresent media on campus for the past few days), and five light poles were broken due to students hanging on them. I’m not saying people behaved wisely. But for thousands and thousands of students flooding the streets, that’s not a lot of damage done. But what did they hope to accomplish?
I read the news in my bedroom last night, and I wanted to hop in the car and go downtown, too. Why? I wanted to defend my school. I wanted to defend my town. This one man, this Jerry Sandusky, and the horrible, monstrous things he did to those boys, was a devastation. Not only did he destroy the lives of those boys and their families. His actions destroyed the legacy of a wonderful man who devoted his life to a university and a town. He destroyed the trust people had in their neighbors. He destroyed the reputation of a fine charity and an excellent university. It was THAT destruction I wanted to protest.
I hope we never forget the lessons here. Do more than what is required. If there is a wrong and you see it, do all you can to make it right. Protect children, not your reputation. Blame the right people, not the most convenient ones.
So what next? The dust will settle. Penn State will return to normal. But until then, we mourn for the children and their families and for a whole community–local and world-wide–who call themselves Penn Staters.
